The WNBA is preparing to award Cleveland its 16th franchise, multiple sources have told SBJ, with an approximate bid worth a league record $250M.

The sources put Cleveland’s expansion chances as high as 90% —with an announcement expected no later than March —and said the WNBA has re-thought its original plan of adding just one team and could award one or two more franchises to bring its league total to 18 clubs. The presumed leaders for the second and third teams are Philadelphia, Houston, Nashville, Detroit and Miami.

Cleveland is expected to join the league for the 2028 season playing at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. They will be reprised as the Cleveland Rockers, an original WNBA franchise that folded after the 2003 season when former owner Gordon Gund could not sell the team due to tumbling revenue and erratic attendance. But in the two decades since, the league’s exponential growth and popularity has led to rising expansion fees. The Golden State Valkyries, the league’s 13th franchise launching in May, paid $50M to join the WNBA, while Toronto and Portland —the 14th and 15th franchises —paid $115M and $125M, respectively. Now that has doubled.

As recent as two weeks ago, the WNBA applied to trademark the name Rockers, as well as the names of three other former franchises: the Houston Comets, the Detroit Shock and the Miami Sol — all clues to who could be in the running for the 17th and 18th teams, but not a complete giveaway.

Sources said Houston “is probably the most positioned’’ for the 17th team largely because the Rockets recently built a 75,000 square-foot practice facility, owner Tilman Fertitta is reportedly worth more than $10B and they have an NBA infrastructure that is appealing to the league.

“The Comets are also an amazing brand, and it’s stunning they even left the league,” said a source, referencing the four-time champion Comets folding in 2008 due to $4M annual losses.

Philadelphia is likely another clear frontrunner, sources said, and indications are that when 76ers owner Josh Harris partnered with Comcast on a new arena in South Philadelphia, the priority was to house a WNBA team along with the Sixers and Flyers.

Steve Greenberg, the managing director of Allen & Co. —which is overseeing the expansion process on behalf of the WNBA — has declined comment on all bidding. But sources said the bids have ranged from $200M to $250M and that the Cavaliers likely won the 16th franchise with their high-end $250M proposal, their NBA infrastructure and their burgeoning facilities.

Owner Dan Gilbert and the Cavaliers, who declined comment, are constructing the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center, which will be the centerpiece of Gilbert and Bedrock’s $3.5B Cuyahoga Riverfront Master Plan. The NBA Cavaliers would operate out of that facility, while the Rockers would move into the Cavalier’s current state-of-the-art training center in Independence, Ohio, complete with two practice courts, a team theatre and a weight room in a remote wooded setting. Gilbert, who reportedly has poured over $1B into Cleveland sports and entertainment ecosystem since purchasing the Cavaliers in 2005, would also continue to upgrade the new Rockers facility.

In all, 13 cities have bid for the next WNBA expansion teams: St Louis, Kansas City, Austin, Jacksonville, Nashville, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Miami, Denver, Charlotte and Milwaukee. Under the NBA collective bargaining agreement, current NBA players can buy up to 4% of a team as long as a current league owner is not part of the bidding group. The Celtics’ Jayson Tatum has invested in the St. Louis bid, and the Suns’ Kevin Durant in the Austin bid. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is part of the Kansas City group, and former WNBA star Candace Parker is an investor in the Nashville group.

As to why the WNBA is willing to take on potentially three teams instead of one right now —with the last two likely arriving in 2029 or 2030 —the sense is that there have been multiple bids approaching $250M.

“How do you walk away from three quarters of a billion dollars?’’ one source said.